On Aug 20, 5:19 pm, Puddin' Man wrote:
On Mon, 20 Aug 2007 21:59:33 -0000, wrote:
On Aug 20, 4:55 pm, jJim McLaughlin
wrote:
wrote:

SNIP HAPPENS

You don't need an HDTV. All you need is an ATSC digital tuner which
will deliver a signal compatible with your existing TV. The govt has
approved a plan to give consumers two $40 coupons that can be used
toward the purchase of two converter boxes. These tuners are already
available for under $100, and will likely be $50-75 by the time you
need them.

Interesting. First I have heard of the coupon thing. Sure hope it
happens.
There are 8 NTSC TVs in this house, as well as 3 NTSC VCRs. All
are on a Comcast "Basic" cale, not HD cable.

I am *not* looking forward to what this "improvement" is going to cost me.

If you have cable, the improvement will cost you zippo. The cable box
already supplies NTSC, S Video, Component, whatever you're using.
That isn't going to change.

'Scuse me, but how in the hull do *you* know what Comcast, TW,
Charter, etc are going to do in the coming years? Some doubt they
know they-own-selves.

Look, first, it's not years away, ATSC is already up and running.
HDTV programming is available right now through OTA, cable, and Sat.
It coexists with std def right now. You can watch much of prime time
in HD or std right now via cable. All those cable companies now
deliver a signal that works with your NTSC TV. And the signal from
most cable companies is already digital to the set top box, regardless
of whether the output is NTSC or HD. In Feb 2009, the only thing
that happens is NTSC OTA gets turned off.

If you don't believe me, call your cable company and ask or do a bit
of research on the web.




Several years ago I could get premium (HBO, etc) channels on my NTSC
tuners. Not no' mo': gotta have a (Charter) Digital-Garbage Box (and
pay rent on it).

I assure you that you can get it right now. Just call up and pay for
it instead of stealing it.



Last I looked, there were incentives for cable vendors to further
convert to "digital". Not directly connected to the 2009 ATSC
changeover.

That's right, the incentives are to cram more channels down that
pipe. It's been going on, it works, so why should we expect it's
gonna disappear, just because broadcasters shutdown the NTSC
transmitters?




...

Puddin'

"Mit der Dummheit kaempfen Goetter selbst vergebens!"
-Friedrich Schiller- Hide quoted text -

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